Lily Evans: Animal Rights Activist Extraordinaire
by canarylongbottom
Summary: Lily Evans didn't know how much she loved James Potter until the day he wasn't there.


"Alright, Prongs, it's been thirty minutes and you said you'd meet us by the gargoyle—" Sirius interrupted himself and stopped straight in his tracks, amazed, at the sight that met his eyes. Remus and Peter walked straight into him, but their muffled "Ow!" went unheeded.

James Potter and Lily Evans, former enemies, were snogging in the middle of the empty common room.

As soon as the two heard Sirius's voice, they sprung apart as quickly as possible. Flustered, James mussed up his hair, carefully avoiding Sirius's gaze, and walked out the door. Sirius and Peter followed him, yelling, "OI, PRONGS, WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?"

Remus turned towards Lily with the largest smile on his face. "Lily! What happened?"

She sat down limply on one of the sofas. "Leave me alone," she said in a small voice.

Remus walked to the sofa and sat down next to her. "Come on, Lily."

Lily shook her head, but he was looking at her with curious eyes.

"It's…it's something I'd like to keep between the two of us, if you don't mind," she said, but she could not help smiling a soft smile, and then she walked to her room.

Lily Evans had woken up in the morning only because Mary Macdonald had tossed a pillow at her face.

"Oi, you're late for breakfast," said Mary. "Good luck with Defense today. Practicals aren't your area of expertise, you know."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Mary," she mumbled sarcastically, hastily throwing on her robes.

"Are you eating breakfast with James again?" giggled Alice from her bed. "We all know how much you fancy each other—"

"Oh, shut it, Alice," Lily reprimanded, but not whole-heartedly. Lily had been poked fun of at least ten thousand times before and it was something she had learned to take in her stride.

"Well, are you?" called Marlene McKinnon from the sink.

"Yes, but it's—"

"_Not a date_," chorused Alice, Marlene, and Mary along with Lily.

"Yes, yes, we know," said Mary, as Lily rolled her eyes and picked up her satchel.

"Be sure to snog him goodbye for us!" Marlene shouted at Lily's retreating back.

Lily made her way down to the Great Hall, not even pausing to tell off a first year playing with a Fanged Frisbee. She'd let one of the Prefects deal with that, and anyway, she didn't want to be late for breakfast.

(She ignored the nagging voice at the back of her head which asked her, _why do you care so much if you're late? It's only Potter_.)

Lily sat down at the far end of the Gryffindor table, which she and James had set as their meeting spot for breakfast. James had been the one to suggest that the two Heads meet at least once every day to keep on top of Head Boy and Head Girl duties. However, since not much could happen in one day, they usually spent the time talking about other things.

Two minutes passed, and still no James. Lily decided to go get some food. James wouldn't care, she knew.

Five minutes. She began eating.

Ten.

Fifteen.

Beginning to get worried, she asked Frank Longbottom, who was sitting a few seats away, "Hey Frank, have you seen Potter anywhere?"

"Oh hello, Lily. I've actually got no idea. I haven't seen him anywhere."

"Oh."

_How completely rude of him_, she thought to herself. _I've half a mind to storm up to his dormitory right now and tell him off._

She didn't, of course. Instead she followed her breakfast with a swig of pumpkin juice and headed to class.

James wasn't there in Charms.

He wasn't there in Potions, either.

By the time lunch rolled around and when she noticed that James was still missing, Lily was feeling a little bit panicky. James never missed class, and he never missed an opportunity to see Lily, either. What could have happened?

Transfiguration, and no James.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was the last class of the day and the class was doing practicals, which would count for half of their grade—and Lily was not extremely confident. Professor Faye would call each student up to the front of the room, assign a spell to cast, and would watch it be cast in front of 20 other students. There were all sorts of odds and ends provided—a cage full of Doxies, an armoire which hosted a Boggart, a Grindylow in a tank.

She sat down at a desk, mentally preparing for the question but using the back of her mind as a place to worry about James. He'd never skipped so many classes before…

"Evans, Lily."

She stood up quickly and walked to the front of the room. Everyone was looking at her—Remus, Sirius, Peter, Frank—but no James.

"Perform the curse to keep Boggarts at bay, nonverbally."

_Oh, this should be easy!_ Lily thought gladly. She knew how to perform the _Riddikulus_ charm. The challenge was the nonverbal part of the question—but she knew she was rather good at casting nonverbal spells, so she wasn't worried.

"Ready?" Professor Faye asked. As soon as Lily nodded, many things happened in the same moment:

Professor Faye opened the armoire door.

At the same time, another door opened. James Potter burst through the classroom door, panting.

"Potter?" Lily cried.

"Hello?" James said.

The boggart emerged out of its armoire and immediately took shape.

The entire classroom gasped.

Remus, Peter, and Sirius jumped out of their seats and stared in turn between James and Lily.

It was only when she saw James's thunderstruck expression that she turned around and saw what her boggart had materialized into.

Lily started crying.

James felt like crying, too.

A beautiful white stag was lying on the floor, with an arrow through its heart.

Lily ran out the door.

"You do realize that you'll fail?" called Professor Faye.

Lily didn't stop to answer.

_Okay, what the hell does that mean?_ Lily asked herself as she ran back to the Gryffindor common room._ Nothing, right? It doesn't mean that my worst fear is losing James. It just means that…I'm an animal rights activist. Yes. That's what it means._

She reached the common room, which was empty since everyone was in class. She sat down on a sofa, sobbing to herself until two minutes later, James walked in.

Before he could say anything, she held up a hand. "Don't. Don't say anything, Potter."

"I wasn't going to."

The two of them sat in silence together, until Lily said, "Where were you all day?"

"I…I overslept."

He was lying, and she knew it. Lily could see it in his face.

"I see."

Awkward silence.

"Okay, fine, I was in the Hospital Wing. Last night was the attack of Moony's…furry little problem…and he scratched me. Madame Pomfrey made me stay in there until just before Defense."

Lily's gaze softened. "Oh."

There was another silence, broken by James when he asked, "Do you think Professor Faye will let you retake the practical?"

Lily shot him a look. "When has she ever?"

"Oh. Um, right. Sorry."

"Yeah, it was mostly your fault that I messed up, anyway."

James blinked. "What?"

"I was so busy worrying about you—"

"You worry about me?"

"—that I couldn't concentrate—yes, I worried about you, don't get used to it because I'm starting to think that I should never bother with you because it only leads me into trouble!"

A slow smile crept onto James's face. "You worry about me!"

Lily didn't respond.

"You know, I worry about you too…" he said quietly.

Lily still remained silent.

"I mean…that one day—"

Lily interrupted him with a whisper. "James, are you going to pretend you didn't see my Boggart?"

A multitude of emotions crossed James's face. "You called me James."

"What? No I didn't. Potter. See? I called you Potter."

A small smile crept across his face. "Right."

"Potter are we going to pretend—"

"No," whispered James. "No, that would be unwise, wouldn't it?"

He was looking at Lily with an expression so strange—it was a mixture of concern, humility, and tenderness. Lily had never seen any of these expressions written across his face before. She was suddenly aware of all of the tears streaming down her face and made a move to wipe them, but James caught her hand in his.

"Yes," Lily breathed, wondering why her heart was suddenly beating out of her chest.

"Lily, do you know what that means?"

"It means I'm an animal rights activist. Or something. I think." She was blabbering. She tended to do that when she was flustered and upset.

She was completely aware of his hand still holding hers.

James laughed softly. "I think it means something else."

Lily tore her gaze away from James's face and said nothing.

He whispered, "I think it means that you're afraid of losing me."

Still, Lily said nothing.

"Is that true, Lily?"

In a whisper so soft that even she couldn't hear it, Lily said, "Maybe."

She chanced a glance at his face. His hazel eyes were full of a tenderness she'd never seen before.

"Lily, you know…I never stopped liking you."

This made Lily chuckle through her tears. "Oh, I know. Everyone knows that."

It was James's turn to chuckle. "But I think…I think my liking turned to something stronger over the years, Lily. I think I might even love you now."

Looking back on this moment, Lily supposed that she should have reacted more maturely, perhaps by kissing him or by hugging him, but instead her silent tears turned into loud, hiccupping sobs. James gently put his arm around her, and Lily sobbed in earnest into his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I just—realized—how much—I actually—_like_ you," she sobbed. James couldn't help but grin. He leapt up, grabbed Lily by the waist, and spun her around in the air, disregarding her squeals of "James-Potter-you-put-me-down-this-instant!"

He put her down on the floor, and they stood, face-to-face. For minutes, they stood in silence, just studying each other's' face.

Finally, James leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips. Lily didn't pull away.

Sirius, Peter, and Remus burst into the room at that very moment.


End file.
